Severed Souls(88)

“But then some of the Shun-tuk with occult powers appeared and started to melt our men.”

Richard leaned forward. “Melt them? What do you mean, melt them?”

Kahlan lifted a hand in an uncomfortable gesture at the memory. “It was horrifying. The Shun-tuk used some kind of occult sorcery. In an instant the flesh on the men standing to either side of me seemed to boil as it melted right off them. At the same time their bones came apart. They were killed in a heartbeat. I knew that there was no way we could stop such half people. We had no defense against such occult sorcery.”

“The sword could stop them,” Richard said.

“I know,” Kahlan said. “I killed that one before he could kill any more of us. But I didn’t know how many more there were like him. One more? A hundred? A thousand? Later, the sergeant sent to close off the rear reported the same thing.

“The Shun-tuk didn’t care how many casualties they were taking. Once they had that bloodlust driving them, they kept coming no matter what, and those with that occult power were going to kill all our men to get at you and me.

“I had to make a split-second decision before we lost everything. I did the only thing I could do. I ordered a retreat. I turned the men back and we ran for our lives. The Shun-tuk were coming after us. We knew that we stood no chance against those Shun-tuk sorcerers.”

“So what happened?” Richard asked.

“Your little student happened,” Nicci said. “She stood there all by herself in the middle of the gorge with her eyes closed and blew the towering cliffs to either side of the defile completely apart. It looked like the end of the world. It seemed like the entire mountain caved in on the Shun-tuk. It buried the lot of them.” Nicci leaned back. “Now I know how she did it.”

Zedd’s bushy brow drew down. “You think she did with rock what you do with trees?”

“She used what Richard taught her,” Nicci told him. “She basically did the same thing as blowing apart a tree. The principle is the same. She concentrated heat into the water seeping through all the cracks in the rock. As wet as it is, the rock is soaked through. With nowhere for the superheated water to escape, much like in the trunk of a tree, the force of it as it was turned to steam blew the rock apart. Actually, since rock is so much harder than wood, it creates a more powerful explosion.”

“Can you do such a thing?” Kahlan asked.

Nicci looked at her a long moment. “Maybe, on a small scale. But I couldn’t do what she did, I know that much. I can’t even imagine how much ability that girl has.”

“She said that her mother taught her how to heat a rock to keep warm at night,” Richard said. “She must have used the same technique, but on a larger scale. She’s quite talented.”

Nicci shot him an angry glare. “She has a dangerous temper.”

He shrugged. “Sure, if you’re one of the half people her temper is pretty dangerous. But she would never hurt us. She only wants to help.”

“That kind of temper—”

“That temper saved all of our lives,” Richard said. “She also saved my life along with hers that day in the woods. She also helped me get into the third kingdom, find all of you, and then I was able get all of you out of there. If not for that temper of hers, we’d all be dead.”

“I suppose.” Nicci folded her arms. “We don’t know nearly enough about her, though, or about her mother. We haven’t been together long enough for you to tell me much about what you learned or what happened in the third kingdom, and we’ve been almost continually on the run so I haven’t been able to ask any questions of Irena. I want to know what Samantha and her mother are capable of, what kind of abilities they have.”

“As far as I know,” Richard said, “they’re sorceresses.”

“There are sorceresses, and then there are sorceresses.”

Richard nodded. “I guess I have a few questions of my own.”

“There is still a lot about their village of Stroyza, and their purpose there, that I’d like to know about,” Zedd put in. “I would like to have some of the gaps filled in and get some details about them and the people where they live.”

“Richard, I brought you some stew!” Irena called out as she rushed toward them, holding it out in both hands.

“Now’s your chance,” Richard said.





CHAPTER

43

“You need to eat,” Irena said as she leaned in with a tin bowl filled to the brim with stew. “It’s good—lots of wild boar meat. It will help you to get your strength back.” She lifted it out toward him again. “Go on, eat.”